Tag: Scottish Government

Further disruption expected: Storm Corrie is on it’s way

A meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room (SGoRR) – chaired by the First Minister and attended by a number of Ministers – was held yesterday to ensure appropriate measures are in place to deal with the impacts of Storm Malik and Storm Corrie.

Following Saturday’s Amber weather warning and the disruption caused as a result of Storm Malik, a further Amber Warning for the North of Scotland and a Yellow Weather Warning for the rest of the country is in place for Storm Corrie, which is expected to bring more very strong winds across Scotland, particularly the Western Isles, Highlands, Grampian and Tayside areas, through Sunday evening and into Monday morning .

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “On behalf of the Scottish Government, I would like to offer sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the lady who died in Aberdeen this morning.

“Damage has been widespread across the country but the intensity of the impact is being felt very much in the northeast of Scotland. SSEN have engineers out across the area and will continue to assess the damage caused to their network and the extent of repairs needed.

“We know that power has already been restored to more than 33,000 homes, but an estimated 53,000 customers remain without supply and unfortunately we think about 20,000 of these will probably still be off supply overnight. As Storm Malik will be followed shortly by Storm Corrie, disruption could last for a number of days.

“Local resilience partnerships are working to put in  place welfare support for individuals who have lost power and there are many leisure centres in Aberdeenshire which are providing support for people. Some school catering facilities are also available and power companies have commissioned mobile catering companies.

“The Scottish Government’s resilience committee will continue to monitor the situation overnight and into tomorrow, and keep Ministers fully updated.

“We will remain in close contact with local authorities and the emergency services to ensure people in the affected areas receive the latest information, advice and support where needed.”

UPDATE 19:03pm

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has chaired a further meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room (SGoRR) to co-ordinate the response to Storm Malik and Storm Corrie.

An amber warning is in place for Storm Corrie covering the Western Isles, Highlands, Grampian and Tayside until 6am tomorrow and gusts of 60mph to 80mph will be widespread, with 90 mph gusts in exposed western areas.

Gusts of between 60mph and 70mph are likely across the rest of the country, where a Yellow warning remains in place until noon tomorrow and there is potential for property damage.

Of the 98,000 households that lost power as a result of Storm Malik, all but 7,500 are expected to be reconnected tonight after additional engineers were drafted in. However, for the remainder – mainly in Aberdeenshire – disruption could last until Tuesday.

Rail travel has been disrupted today with all services on the Inverness – Aberdeen and the Far North lines cancelled, while ScotRail stopped all services from 18:00 for safety purposes. It is expected most will resume tomorrow morning.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Storm Malik caused significant damage on Saturday and Storm Corrie threatens to be similarly disruptive tonight. I urge everyone to heed the warnings, don’t travel unless you have to and stay safe. Remember, a Yellow warning does mean there are likely to be dangers.

“The power companies have drafted in a large number of additional engineers and are making significant inroads into reconnecting customers. However, we need to be aware that the arrival of Storm Corrie could hamper these efforts and add further problems.

“For those who will unfortunately not have power tonight, support with alternative accommodation is available to anyone who needs it. Special arrangements remain in place for vulnerable customers and local resilience partnerships continue to work with councils to provide welfare support.

“Rail services have been significantly impacted this weekend and will halt overnight. Whilst our expectation is that services will resume as soon as possible on Monday, people should check the ScotRail and Traffic Scotland channels for travel updates before leaving home.

“Safety is our number one priority. Ministers are being kept updated and will take further action as necessary. In the meantime I thank all those who are working in difficult conditions to keep people safe and maintain our lifeline services.”

Background

Follow @metoffice for any updates to the weather warnings in place.

Scottish Household Survey – 2020

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today released the results of the Scottish Household Survey – 2020 Telephone Survey, providing a snapshot of the characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of Scottish households and individuals during late 2020 and early 2021.

This is the first time the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) interviews have been conducted by telephone. The results are published as Experimental Statistics and are not directly comparable with the survey results for previous years.

Public services and institutions

  • 74% of adults reported that they trusted the Scottish Government. Adults aged 16 to 24 were more likely to express trust in the Scottish Government than those aged 75 or over.
  • 88% of adults were satisfied with local health services, 78% with schools and 70% with public transport. 61% were satisfied with all three services. Satisfaction with public transport was lower in remote rural areas than in large urban areas.
  • 25% of adults felt they could influence decisions affecting their local area.

Housing and community

  • 94% of households were very or fairly satisfied with their housing. Owner-occupiers were more likely to be satisfied than those in the social rented sector.
  • 96% of adults rated their neighbourhood as a very or fairly good place to live. Ratings tended to be more positive in less deprived areas.
  • 61% of adults agreed that there were places in their neighbourhood where people could meet up and socialise. Adults in the least deprived areas were more likely to agree.
  • 88% of adults agreed they could rely on someone in their neighbourhood if they were alone and needed help. Adults in the least deprived areas were more likely to agree.
  • 35% of adults reported having felt lonely in the previous week. Loneliness was more common in younger adults, disabled adults and those from deprived areas and urban areas.

Money and resources

  • 64% of households reported managing well financially. This was less common in more deprived areas, in rented households or if the highest income householder had been furloughed.
  • 61% of households with a child aged under 12 said that it was very easy or easy to afford childcare.
  • 93% of households had access to the internet. Internet access was lower in the most deprived areas and among social rented and single pensioner households.

Volunteering, culture and physical activity

  • 64% of adults had taken part in formal or informal volunteering in the previous year.
  • 44% of adults had attended a cultural event or place of culture in the previous 12 months. Attendance was higher among younger adults, non-disabled adults and those in the least deprived areas.
  • 83% of adults had participated in a cultural activity in the previous 12 months. Participation was higher among women and those in the least deprived areas.
  • 86% of adults had participated in physical activity in the previous four weeks.

Environment

  • 80% of adults felt that climate change was an immediate and urgent problem. This view was more common among younger adults and those in the least deprived areas.
  • 68% of adults lived within a five-minute walk of their nearest area of green or blue space (such as parks, woods, rivers or coasts). This was more common in remote rural areas than in large urban areas.
  • 79% of adults visited the outdoors at least once a week. Disabled adults and those living in the most deprived areas were less likely to do so.

The figures released today were produced in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Scottish Household Survey 2020 Telephone Survey – Key Findings – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Household Survey 2020: Methodology and Impact of Change in Mode – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Strengthening Scotland’s resilience to severe weather

Lessons to be learned from Storm Arwen

A range of changes are to be put in place to strengthen national resilience and protect lives, homes and infrastructure from the impacts of future severe weather events.

A review of the preparations for and response to Storm Arwen sets out 15 recommendations for the Scottish Government and its partners, the Scottish Resilience Partnership, local resilience partnerships, utility companies, the voluntary sector and national responders.  

Key recommendations include improved processes for identifying and assisting those most at risk, and bringing the voluntary and community sector into the heart of local resilience planning and response arrangements.  This will involve maximising access to a suitable volunteer pool during future events of a similar nature.

The government will track progress against the recommendations and provide a further update this June. 

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Following the widespread disruption and devastation caused by Storm Arwen, I committed to a full review of the preparations and response to ensure that we take all the learning from this exceptional storm. 

“We already have strong and robust arrangements in place to manage and address weather-related resilience issues at national, regional and local levels, but I want to ensure that our arrangements continue to evolve and strengthen for the future, which is what this review will help deliver.

“The experience of Storm Arwen underlined the vital role of volunteers and community groups in ensuring the welfare of those around them. That is why we intend to bring the voluntary and community sector into the heart of local resilience planning to ensure they are fully integrated into arrangements for the future.

“In addition, we will improve processes to help us identify those people who are most at risk, in order to direct and provide help as quickly as possible.

“We recognise the urgent need to prepare for increased severe weather as a consequence of the climate emergency, and to ensure arrangements in relation to our energy supply are as robust as possible as we transition towards net zero.”

Chair of the Scottish Resilience Partnership Jim Savege said: “Storm Arwen was a particularly severe weather event that required a significant response from emergency responders, utility companies and communities over an extended period of time.

“I would want to recognise and thank all of those involved in the response for their efforts in helping ensure communities across affected areas were supported and helped where needed.

“As with every incident there is always learning and improvement to be had – the report sets out a range of areas where we can continue to strengthen our resilience as a country in preparation for any future events.”

A review into the response to Storm Arwen

Additional funding boost for councils

An amendment will be brought forward during Stage 2 of the Budget Bill to allocate an additional £120 million to local authorities. The funding represents the equivalent of a 4% Council Tax rise.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said whilst councils have full flexibility in setting local council tax rates, there is no requirement for any inflation-busting increases in 2022-23.

The money is being made available after the UK Government advised that the Scottish Government should anticipate further funding for 2021-22, funding which will be confirmed at the Spring Supplementary Estimates next month.

Speaking during the Stage One Budget Bill debate, Ms Forbes said: “I am in no doubt about the important role local authorities play in our communities and in helping manage our ongoing response to the pandemic. I also understand the financial challenges they face.

“The 2022-23 Scottish Budget remains fully allocated and for weeks the UK Government has been telling us not to expect further funding. That has now suddenly changed and the UK Government has advised that we should anticipate further funding for 2021-22 which will be confirmed at the Spring Supplementary Estimates next month.

“Consequently I now have some new flexibility and am pleased to confirm my intention to utilise the Scotland Reserve to carry forward sufficient funding to allow me to allocate a further £120 million of resource to local government. Councils will have complete flexibility to allocate this additional funding as they wish in 2022-23.

“Councils asked for an additional £100 million to deal with particular pressures. We have heard them and listened and we are going to go further. This will allow them to deal with the most pressing issues they face.

“At a time when people are understandably worried about the cost of living, I would point out this increase in funding would be equivalent to a 4% increase in Council Tax next year, so whilst councils have full flexibility in setting local council tax rates, I do not believe that there is a requirement for any inflation-busting increases next year.”

Scottish Government sets up new Women’s Justice Leadership Panel

Experts to assess needs of women in the justice system

Gender inequality and improving women’s experiences within the justice system will be addressed by a new Scottish Government panel.

Members will examine the experiences of women as both victims and offenders in a range of settings including policing, community justice, criminal and civil courts, tribunals and prisons.

The Women’s Justice Leadership Panel, which met for the first time yesterday, will be chaired by Community Safety Minister Ash Regan.

Membership includes Solicitor General Ruth Charteris QC, academics and representatives from the Scottish Prison Service, Police Scotland, Community Justice Scotland, the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre and the Centre for Women’s Justice.

Key issues for the panel include:

  • how women experience the Scottish justice system differently from men, in what ways their needs are not being met and how it impacts on them
  • international and UK examples where women’s needs are more appropriately met
  • how to address under-representation of women in senior leadership roles and how this impacts on the culture in justice organisations

Ms Regan said: “The Scottish justice system needs to evolve to ensure it serves the needs of women. For example, issues like the impact of caring responsibilities on women or the blurred line between victimisation and offender status are issues which could be understood better.

“Some significant improvements have been made, but often changes are piecemeal and do not provide the fundamental reform needed to embed women’s rights.

“We need to develop a better picture of the evidence to demonstrate how the experience of the justice system differs depending on gender and promote a consistent understanding of the impact of this on women.  This will help us deliver better outcomes for women and reflect expectations of what a modern justice system should look like.”

The membership of the panel comprises:

Ash Regan – Minister for Community Safety (Chair)

Ruth Charteris QC – Solicitor General

Jacqueline Clinton – Scottish Prisons Service

Ch Supt Linda Jones – Police Scotland

Rose McConnachie – Head of learning, development and innovation at Community Justice Scotland

Jen Ang – Director of Development and Policy Scottish Women’s Right Centre/Just Right

Harriet Wistrich – Director, Centre for Women’s Justice

Professor Vanessa Munro – University of Warwick, School of Law

Mariam Ahmed – Co-Chief Executive Officer for Amina Muslim Women’s Resource Centre

Dentistry: Latest data highlights access crisis and widening inequalities in Scotland

The British Dental Association Scotland has called on the Scottish Government to strongly support NHS dentistry to address the large reduction in patients visiting the dentist as new data reveal further decreases in attendance and ever-widening inequalities. 
  
Registration rates remain high due to lifetime registration – over 96% of the Scottish population were registered with an NHS dentist in September 2021 – but the percentage of children registered fell from 91.4% in 2020 to 87.7% in 2021. 
  
Participation rates – contact with a dentist within the past 2 years – continued to fall during the pandemic due to ongoing restrictions imposed on dental practices. At 30 September 2021, just over half of registered patients (52.6%) had seen an NHS dentist within the last two years, a considerable reduction from almost two-thirds (65.1%) in 2020. The participation rate among children was higher than for adults (63.9% compared to 50.2%). 
  
Oral health inequalities between the most and least deprived areas in Scotland continue to grow, with the new data showing record gaps in participation rates.

In September 2008, the gap between the child participation rates for the most and least deprived areas was three percentage points; this had increased to seven percentage points by 2010, and eighteen percentage points (55.3% compared to 73.1%) in September 2021.

Similarly, in September 2008 the gap among adults was three percentage points; this had increased to six percentage points by 2010, and eleven percentage points (45.1% compared for 56.4%) in September 2021. 
  
The BDA has repeatedly warned that lower levels of participation will inevitably translate into a higher disease burden, with deep oral health inequalities expected to widen even further, given the cumulative impact of limited access to services, the suspension of public health programmes, and the impact of lockdown diets.

Lower participation will reduce the chance of picking up early signs of decay and oral cancers at routine check-ups, and delays in treatment will mean higher costs to the NHS and worse outcomes for patients. 
  
Free NHS dental care at the point of use remains a central Scottish Government policy. The stark results of a recent BDA survey showed that Scottish Government plans to revert to pre-COVID models of care risk sparking a flight of dentists from the NHS, with potentially devastating consequences for patient access across Scotland.

BDA Scotland has long warned that a return to a ‘business as usual model’ – low margin and high volume – will put practices under unsustainable financial pressure and will likely lead to closures or movement to the private sector.

BDA Scotland repeats its assertion that the Scottish Government must, in the short term, develop a suitable interim funding package to support dentists and their teams as they work through the backlog, and begin work on a new, sustainable long-term model for NHS dentistry. 

2022-01-25-dental-summaryDownload


  
Robert Donald of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Council said: 
“Today’s figures provide further evidence of the devastating effect of the pandemic on dental services. 
  
“Plummeting participation rates and the record gap in oral health inequalities present a bleak picture which will take a real commitment of time and resource to fix.  
 
“The Scottish Government needs to heed the concerns of the profession. It’s not just their signature policy of free dentistry that risks becoming unattainable. Failure to act risks sparking an exodus from the workforce that will leave families across Scotland losing access to NHS dentistry for good.”

Back To Work: Scottish Government announces changes to working from home advice

Businesses can prepare to resume hybrid working from next Monday (31st January), enabling more people to have a flexible return to working between home and the office.

Due to the continued decline in Covid case rates and the progressing easing of protective measures, businesses can implement a return that offers staff more flexibility while ensuring steps are taken to mitigate the potential spread of Covid.

Eligible businesses in the hospitality, leisure, culture and tourism sectors that were impacted by the necessary public health measures introduced to stop the spread of Omicron are now receiving grant payments.

The Scottish Government is working ‘at pace’ with local authorities and other delivery partners to ensure business support funding is paid to all eligible businesses as quickly as possible.

Economy Secretary Kate Forbes said: “I want to thank businesses and their staff for the continued understanding and willingness to work with the Scottish Government and local partners to respond to the changing challenges we have faced as a result of this pandemic, including responding quickly to the necessary public health measures introduced to stop the spread of Omicron in December.

“Thanks to our collective efforts to stop Omicron spreading, case rates are slowing and so it is possible to resume a measured and proportionate return to hybrid working. This will be welcome news for many thanks to the significant benefits to businesses, to staff and to the wider economy however we must remain cautious.

“We know how quickly Covid can spread and so this must be a phased and flexible return to hybrid working, with employers and employees working together, including with their trade unions where appropriate, to decide the most effective balance of home, flexible and hybrid working.

“The Scottish Government is firmly focused on doing all we can to support businesses and grow our economy. As well as the £375 million business support package, businesses in Scotland continue to benefit from our non-domestic rates relief package which is worth a forecast £802 million in 2022-23.”

The announcement was made during the First Minister’s coronavirus update yesterday:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-update-first-ministers-statement-25-january-2022/

All businesses and workplaces should follow the principles set out in the safer workplace guidance, and carry out regular risk-assessments. This replaces much of the previous sector specific guidance.

Businesses should also follow advice on ensuring good ventilation in their premises.

Record number of students from deprived areas attend university

The number of Scots from the most deprived areas enrolling at Scottish universities is at a new record high.

Higher Education Student Statistics, published today, show a new overall record number of students enrolling in Scottish institutions – an increase of 8.6% compared to last year. This includes a new record high of Scottish domiciled students enrolling at university.

There has also been a large increase in the number of non-EU domiciled students – up 17% on last year.

Commenting on the figures, Higher and Further Education Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “Every young person should have an equal chance of success no matter their background or circumstance, so it is great to see the number and proportion of Scots from the most deprived areas at university hit a record high.

“By 2030, we want 20% of students entering higher education to come from Scotland’s most deprived backgrounds and the Commissioner for Fair Access has previously said that Scotland is ‘setting the pace’ in the UK in widening participation.

“Today’s data also shows the number of students enrolling at Scottish universities hit a new record high and we have seen a large increase in international students. This highlights the fact that Scotland, along with our world class higher education institutions, remains an attractive place to study and live for prospective students.

“However, we have seen a continued drop in EU students coming to study in Scotland following Brexit. EU students enrich our campus life and I hope we can still welcome many of them to our world-leading institutions.”

Higher Education Student Statistics UK 2020-21 show:

  • A record number of students enrolled at Scottish HEIs in 2020-21: an increase from last year of 8.6% (+22,385) to 282,875

Scottish domiciled                180,170         (+7.9%,   +13,120 since 2019-20)

rUK domiciled                       34,520            (+8.4%,   +2,685 since 2019-20)

Non-EU domiciled               47,630            (+17.0%, +6,935 since 2019-20)

EU domiciled                        20,550            (-1.7%,    -345 since 2019-20)

  • 16.7% of Scottish domiciled full time first degree entrants to Scottish HEIs are from the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland. This is an increase of 0.3 percentage points, or 545 entrants, from 16.4% in 2019-20.

New report highlights poverty target challenges

The Fraser of Allander Institute has tday published a new report, jointly authored with @MMUPolicyEval & @PovertyAlliance, that explores some of the challenges and opportunities that the Scottish Government faces in meeting its Child Poverty Targets:

Around 1 in 4 children in Scotland live in relative poverty. This means they live in a
household with an income 60% below the UK median income after housing costs
have been deducted.

Child poverty can have serious and lifelong impacts across a range of outcomes,
and the Scottish Government have stated their aim to reduce significantly the
incidence of child poverty. The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 20172 includes a target
to reduce relative child poverty to 10% by 2030/31.

Meeting this target would represent an unprecedented reduction in child poverty to levels not seen in Scotland certainly since the early 1990s when the current statistical series began.

The purpose of the analysis in this report is to look at some of the large, national level, devolved policy levers that the Scottish Government could use to meet the
targets. We have focussed on childcare, employability programmes and social
security.

By analysing variations of these types of policies, and different combinations, this
analysis illustrates the scale of the impact on poverty and the associated costs and
benefits of different options.

We envisage that this will be helpful for policymakers and stakeholders who will be focused on developing actions for the next Tackling Child Poverty Delivery plan, due to be published by the Scottish Government by the end of March 2022.

Download a summary here.

Eye examinations to remain free in Scotland

The fees paid by the Scottish Government to optometrists for carrying out NHS-funded eye examinations will increase by 3% – helping to ensure everyone can continue to access high quality eye care.

Scotland became the only UK nation to introduce free universal NHS-funded eye examinations in 2006 and, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic, 2018-19, a record 2.3 million people had their eyes examined by an optometrist under this service.

This increase will be backdated to include all General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) eye examinations, which provide both a sight test and an eye health check, undertaken from 1 April 2021.

Public Health Minister Maree Todd said: “General Ophthalmic Services is one of the many NHS success stories in Scotland. The introduction in 2006 of free universal NHS-funded eye examinations set Scotland apart from the rest of the UK, and this Government is committed to maintaining this policy.

“Increasing the fees paid to optometrists for providing this vital service ensures everyone in across the country can continue to access high quality eye care services.

“Even if you’re happy with your vision, it’s really important to have your eyes examined regularly by an optometrist. An eye examination helps detect eye problems and signs of other significant health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease before they become more serious.

“Many community optometrists can manage the treatment of certain eye conditions and are able to prescribe treatments to patients instead of having to make a GP or hospital referral.

“I would also like to thank everyone in the community optometry sector for their invaluable work and dedication in response to the pandemic – staffing Emergency Eyecare Treatment Centres during the initial phase of the pandemic, supporting the vaccine programme and the outstanding efforts made in returning to delivering pre-pandemic levels of care.”

David Quigley, Chair, Optometry Scotland said: “We welcome the announcement of a 3% increase to GOS fees.  These are significant developments which acknowledge the excellent service provided by community eyecare colleagues across Scotland.

“We have campaigned for an increase and implementation of a sustainable funding model to safeguard and enhance the future of community optometry, and thanks to a strong working relationship and ongoing constructive dialogue with the Scottish Government we are pleased to see this come to fruition.”